The age of connected and intelligent systems has been a subject of intense media coverage and hot debate, but the implications will be much greater than many have forecast. Most predictions paint a rather bleak picture for lower-income blue collar jobs. Many will be replaced with automation resulting from the combination of advanced sensor, connectivity, processing, robotics and artificial intelligence technologies. However, the impact on white collar jobs and communities may be even more significant.

There recently has been an increase in the talk about bots, AI and intelligent assistants. A lot of this talk has been percolating around the industry for decades. Silicon Collar, a book by Vinnie Mirchandani, a friend and truly gifted analyst, accepts that automation might be eliminating jobs, but it optimistically holds out for the silver lining. Businesses and individuals have been taking advantage of an opportunity to build new human-mediated processes — and jobs — that leverage intelligent systems, according to Mirchandani.

The idea of intelligent personal assistants or voice assistants like Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana and Google Now seems very cool — talking to a computer and having it talk back. It should be like talking to the computer on Star Trek’s starship Enterprise. If the technology worked well, these digital assistants could be game-changing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t — not yet, anyway. In the wonderful world of technology, we often get way ahead of ourselves. It’s the idea that propels us, even if the reality takes years to catch up.

A British company called Intelligent Energy has reportedly built a working version of an iPhone 6 that integrates both a rechargeable battery and a hydrogen fuel cell without altering the dimensions of the device.

Doist on Tuesday released a major update of Todoist for iOS, adding features like “intelligent” task input, while the New York Times announced it would be creating single-sentence stories for display on Apple Watch.

At long last, some Japanese researchers have created an intelligent automatic sliding door. No longer must you wait patiently for the door to slowly judder open; no more must you be frustrated by doors accidentally opening as you walk by them. This intelligent door even has the ability to match the size of the opening depending on the number of people walking towards it — and if it detects someone running towards it, it slides open at max speed. Yes, this is this glorious realization of the Star Trek sliding door that opens just in time for you to cross the threshold.